LAS VEGAS (BP) -- Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., and Denver were named America's loneliest cities in a recent study, but pastors in those cities are not surprised. They say the transient nature of modern life, along with selfishness and technology contribute to people feeling alone despite being surrounded by people.

Various reports indicate a rise in the number of people who report feeling lonely, and in Great Britain earlier this year Prime Minister Theresa May appointed a minister for loneliness. CV Outreach, an organization urging churches to use technology to reach people far from God, conducted the study identifying ... Read More

DULUTH, Ga. (BP) -- Georgia Baptist Mission Board Executive Director J. Robert White signaled his intention to retire after more than 25 years in the position in a letter he read to the GBMB executive committee today (March 13).

White, 71, announced his retirement would become effective Dec. 31, 2018, when he has completed 26 years as the mission board's executive director.

Although White grew up in Florida and Alabama, he had served as pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Carrollton, Ga., in the 1970s and early 1980s ... Read More

DALLAS (BP) -- California pastor A.B. Vines will be nominated for first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, former SBC President Johnny Hunt announced today (March 13).

Vines "is a close personal friend that has a deep love for our convention," Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., told Baptist Press via email. "In our time together he so often speaks of his passion to serve and make us better together as a convention." Read More

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Legislation to preserve the religious freedom of faith-based adoption agencies in Oklahoma took an important step toward becoming law Tuesday (March 13) with the support of national and state Baptist leaders.

The Oklahoma Senate voted 35-9 for Senate Bill 1140, a proposal that would protect private organizations from being required to take part in the placement of a child for foster care or adoption when the action would violate their "written religious or moral convictions or policies." The bill would permit faith-based adoption ... Read More

ROME (BP) -- Amid reports of increased demand for exorcisms among some Roman Catholics, resources by Southern Baptists are helping to clarify the Bible's teaching on demonic activity.

"Can a Christian be demon possessed? No," Southern Baptist Theological Seminary theology professor Stephen Wellum said in a video posted on the seminary's website Feb. 28. "To be demon possessed would mean one is outside of Christ, one is dead in their sins, one is under the power of the evil one. Read More

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Known as "America's pastor," evangelist Billy Graham also had personal relationships with leaders around the world -- in the Vatican, in Buckingham Palace, and in nations stretching from Argentina to Yugoslavia.

Starting Monday (March 19), two new collections about his ministry, including notebooks documenting Graham's personal relationship with each U.S. president from Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama, will be opened to the public. Maintained by the Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College in Illinois, the collections ... Read More

Guard your heart, David Jeremiah counsels, because it is "the seat of your emotional and spiritual passion in life." When the passion of a person's heart is directed toward God, he notes, "the outcome can be life-giving and life-saving." Read More

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP) -- The world stopped to celebrate the homegoing of evangelist Billy Graham, 99, who was buried in Charlotte on the grounds of the library bearing his name next to Ruth, his marriage and ministry partner of more than 63 years.

Throughout his ministry, Graham constantly leveraged the leading edge of technology, from radio and print journalism to satellite television and the internet in order to speak timeless truths to the mercurial interests of the next generation. Read More

Formed in 1946 by the Southern Baptist Convention, and supported with Cooperative Program funds, Baptist Press (BP) is a daily (M-F) international news wire service. Operating from a central bureau in Nashville, Tenn., BP works with four partnering bureaus (Richmond, Va.; Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Washington, D.C.), as well as with a large network of contributing writers, photographers and editorial providers, to produce BP News.